Billy Graham in the Land of the Soviets: U.S. Evangelicals and Their Cold War Mission

Abstract As the Cold War progressed, U.S. evangelicals gained prominence in the public arena, venturing into both domestic politics and international diplomacy. Nevertheless, Christian activists struggled to attract support for (and media attention to) human rights abuses of Christians under authoritarian regimes. Moreover, the preeminent public representative of evangelicalism remained Billy Graham, the “preacher to the presidents.” Beginning in the late 1970s, Graham embarked on an ambitious agenda that put him at odds with both the religious right and Christian human rights activists. He began to visit Soviet-bloc territories, culminating in a whirlwind trip to Moscow in 1982. The visit sparked a hailstorm of criticism, exposing serious divisions among evangelicals about the relationship between religion and politics and about the proper responsibilities of Christians to their co-believers in Communist countries.